US Space Force Completes Simulated Orbital Interception Mission

Picture credit: True Anomaly

For decades, space battles have belonged to the world of Star Wars and science fiction. But as more satellites fill Earth's orbit, military powers are now preparing for a future where satellites may have to track, approach and respond to rival spacecraft in orbit.

That idea moved a step closer to reality after the US Space Force announced the successful completion of its Victus Haze mission, in which two satellites carried out a simulated orbital interception. The exercise tested how quickly the spacecraft could locate, approach and assess another satellite, demonstrating capabilities that could be used during future military operations in space.

The mission involved two commercial satellites built by different companies. Rocket Lab's Pioneer-class Puma satellite was launched aboard an Electron rocket on June 19 after receiving launch notice just 16 hours and 42 minutes earlier, setting a new spaceflight readiness record for the company. The satellite joined True Anomaly's JACKAL-0004 spacecraft, which had already been launched into orbit on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in May and was waiting for its counterpart.

Once both satellites were in orbit, they began a series of operations designed to simulate the interception of a potential adversary spacecraft. The satellites had to rapidly locate each other, rendezvous in space and assess the target. The US Space Force had set a deadline of 72 hours for the exercise, but the mission was completed 11 hours ahead of schedule, according to a statement from True Anomaly.

Victus Haze is the second mission under the Space Force's Tactically Responsive Space (TacRS) programme. The first mission, Victus Nox, launched in September 2023 by Firefly Aerospace, focused on improving space domain awareness. Victus Haze went a step further by demonstrating a tactical engagement between two satellites in orbit.

During the mission, JACKAL successfully carried out several planned operations while tracking Puma. According to True Anomaly, the spacecraft performed propulsion burns, closed-loop tracking, precision pointing and imaging before returning to its original orbit. "Jackal performed exactly as designed, demonstrating precise propulsion burns and nominal ingress, successful closed-loop tracking, precision pointing, imaging and characterization of the target before egressing to its base orbit," the company said.

The US Space Force said the two satellites also completed multiple space domain awareness threat-response scenarios and carried out dynamic engagements with the other"during the exercise.

"Victus Haze is primed to further demonstrate our readiness to lean on our commercial partners to deny, disrupt, and counter any adversarial advantage, no matter where they try to operate in space," acting Space Force portfolio acquisition executive Col. Bryon McClain said in a statement.

Once mission operations began, True Anomaly transferred control of JACKAL to its space superiority software, called Mosaic, which planned and executed the mission alongside Rocket Lab's Pioneer satellite platform. True Anomaly further said the mission showed that launching a satellite quickly and identifying a newly detected object in orbit are now part of the same capability.

"Victus Haze proves that responsive launch and responsive characterisation are a single capability. Acquire a new object within hours, close the geometry, and deliver the imagery. The next step is cadence- faster, more often, and across more orbits," the company said.